The Japanese digital comic market grew by 29. 5% in 2019 and the Japanese publishing industry grew by a whopping 0.2%.

Even with the "Manga boom" happening in the West, the industry isn't seeing it.

Now you know how much piracy affects the industry. Exposure ain't shit.

Cont https://twitter.com/h_taj/status/1221707374831890432

That 29.5% increase in digital comic sales in Japan wasn't an "organic growth" but mainly due to publishers shutting down the biggest piracy site in Japan, "Manga Mura" and sending the owners to prison.

The industry saw a 29.5% increase after shut down a piracy site.

Cont

So what do you think the mentality is in Japan?

They're thinking

"Shut down piracy = increase in Revenue"

And the numbers back it up.

Scan advocates can tweet as much as they want, but the "exposure" views aren't leading to numbers.

It's no 29.5% for sure.

My 2 cent, if you want JP publishers to get more localized works out, you have to buy and actually use the services that have official releases.

Seeing increases in those numbers will encourage publishers to act on that momentum.

Don't expect "somebody else" to pay.

It's so easy to think "I'll stick to scans because so-and-so, who I know, will be buying official releases. So I can say online that exposure through scans lead to real sales."

Your ass has to pay too. And if you can't pay, at least USE the official Jump app to read stuff.

Every figure matters. Even if it's not "sales", "views" from official Jump apps are what Shuuesha and Viz are using to determine future directions. And it's not just English.

They just released a Thai version of the app and the numbers are great.

That means they might start to consider other Asian languages like Vietnamese, Indonesian etc.

For western languages, if English and Spanish are successful, they might branch out to Portuguese, French, German etc.

All of these official numbers matter.

Don't free ride. If you have the means to buy official, every purchase matters. If you can download and read Viz/Jump app, do it. Every view matters.

Even in Japan, we see on the news of how manga/anime is getting bigger and bigger in the world.

But if the industry doesn't "see" a similar trend in official purchases and official views on apps, the first thought on their mind is going to be "Oh, these guys all read scans."

And there's nothing more demotivating that that. That's a massive slap in the face.

Japan only has 120 million people. The population that reads manga digitally isn't that big either.

If you guys (foreigners) really decided to support official apps, you guys can smash that 29.5% number and really push up that 0.2% increase as well.

There's so much potential in the rest of the world being a "market to seriously consider".

Don't let the allure of scan sites make you contribute to the negative numbers.

Supprt official releases. Call out scan groups that work against official releases.

We love to use that "One bad apple" analogy in the English language. Right now, these apples are spreading the rot in the entire basket.

Call them out. Show the Japanese publishers that you really give a shit. Policing within the western manga community is going to be vital.

JP publishers are businesses. If they see positive numbers, they'll act on it. They get multiple languages, they'll print stuff, they'll attend cons throughout the world.

But publishers won't act without the numbers and facts to back them up.

Just seeing pics of foreign fans in cosplay "showing their love" isn't enough of a reassurance that the business venture will work out.

You have to entice JP publsihers so they give you a chance.

At the moment there are many who think "JP publishers don't care about us"

A lot of them probably don't be uase you're not giving them a reason.

The biggest "notice me sempai" you can do is to support them. They they'll have to answer to your calls.

I talk to authors and people in the publishing industry. Some of them have had bad experiences with-

Foreigners and feel bitter about it. But the majority want to give an official release a try. But the publishers are cautions and not greenlighting projects becuase the numbers aren't convincing.

Sure, people buy Shounen Jump stuff, but when people pirate the niche stuff,

Other niche titles will be put on hold in the Japan side, because "we tried that genre and it didn't work in America".

If you like to read non-mainstream works, make sure you get what's available. That'll encourage similar titles to be published.

There's so much more than just Demon Slayer, One Piece, and MHA. But if the other titles keep getting scanlated, they're never going to be given a chance.

It's a staring contest of sorts. Either foreign fans cut down on scans and start giving facts and numbers to use

Or publishers to take a leap of faith and publish something with no numbers.

I think we know that the latter is unlikely.

So do your part in a way you can support the industry.

If you can't read something now, do so when you can. Don't be tempted by the allure of scans.

Becuase as much as people say "scans led me to buy official releases" those are anecdotal cases at best, and the numbers most definitely don't show a "trend" of people doing so. I'm not kidding. It's not even 1 in a hundred. You can maybe add another zero or two.

I understand that there financial limitations. Not everyone is made of money. But Manga isn't a "human right". Its not a necessity. Its a luxury. Its something you want.

We don't rob stores just becuase we don't have the money to buy it now.

You don't need to buy manga in real time. If you don't have the money for it now, come back later.

Sure, there are spoilers, but that sense of wonder and awe that story will have for you, is still going to be there when you read it later.

Don't give your views to scans.

Because are you really going to buy the official version after?

Everytime you don't, and Everytime "official versions don't sell", publishers compare those numbers to other successful works. And future decisions will be based on that.

Scans worsen your chances.

There are now a lot of amazing apps and online stores that allow you to purchase manga legally.

If you need a list check out

@MangaOuendan
@uchuushelf
@MMMcGarry
@YattaTachi

Sorry for the long rant. Let me dig up my old post about how scans hurt artist. I'll add that later.

Here's a tweet about how scanlations hurt artists. Even this tweet there's more I could add, but here's the short version. https://twitter.com/OnTakahashi/status/1111198742332370945